To Prank Or Not To Prank
by gophergirl
Summary: Emery moves from her cozy home in Massachusetts to a cozy home 10 minutes from the Burrow. She learns life will be far from normal in her 7th year at Hogwarts with Fred and George as her best friends, or maybe one of them more...
1. A First Compression

Emery stared longingly out the window of her second story bedroom. Her parents had just recently dragged her from the comfortable life in Massachusetts across the ocean to this little house somewhere deep in the forests of England.

Back home, life was simple and enjoyable. She was the top witch at St. Claire's with the perfect group of friends. She missed these three girls the most of all. Together, they had the perfect balance of personalities and interests. Leela was shy, yet always came forth with the best advice, living with her thoughts through the actions of others. Carrie was the exact opposite, always doing without thinking; she had a knack with the opposite gender. Finally, Alexis had been Emery's best friend, always up for a good time, often not thinking of the consequences. Now, they would move on without her, when all she got was a beautiful view of the pond about ten feet off the property line.

All of a sudden she stood up in frustration and descended the trellis outside her window. She knew her parents wouldn't approve of her milling about in a foreign country, so she began to sprint feverishly, shedding her clothes along the way until she jumped into the pond in nothing but her undergarments. Emery enjoyed any activity that challenged her endurance, mainly because she always fought right back with it. She swam across the pond as fast as she could and climbed out the other side without realizing the absence of clothes. Eventually, she looked down...

Emery possessed the ability to perform wandless magic which usually got her into serious trouble. Emery was usually the rational one of her group, but when it came to pranking people; her evil genius simply threw all caution to the wind. In the blink of an eye, she was dressed in a green and white summer dress that contrasted beautifully with her icy eyes. It's not that she was girly by nature, she didn't have the curves for that, she just enjoyed the freeness dresses provided her with as she sprinted through the trees, careful to make note a route back home. After about ten minutes down the path, she saw a clearing in the bushes.

Emery dropped to her hands and knees and silently crept towards the opening. As she got closer, she had to settle her breathing and wipe a sweat covered strand of hair off her forehead. As she lightly brushed the leaves out of the way, Emery's eyes fell on a very compact, yet cozy house. Outside, there were two identical boys with vibrant red hair, hunched over a girl with hair to match theirs, but an age slightly younger.

"Guys! No! Think about what you're doing to me," she warned them quite frantically, her voice wavering slightly.

"Oh, don't worry, we have. Come on Gin, it'll wash out in a few days, or weeks, I guess we'll find out, won't we Fred?"

"I suppose we shall," he replied to his twin with a sly smile creeping onto his face. With that, the twin Emery perceived to be Fred held down the struggling girl as the other poured some bright pink liquid into her mouth.

Emery knew she should stop this, but was curious to find out more about these people without breaking her cover. Within seconds, the girl's hair turned the same hot pink the liquid had been.

"FRED! GEORGE! How could you?! This had better come off you idiots!" the girl screamed while running into the house to probably take about 15 showers. The twins started laughing and high fived each other before heading back towards the house.

Emery scoffed and muttered, "Amateurs," under her breath. She was about to stand up when the twin named Fred stopped dead in his tracks and whipped around. In the blink of an eye, Emery hit the floor, breathing heavily.

"Fred, what's wrong?" the first twin inquired.

"Nothing, I must be hearing things."

It became a daily routine of Emery's to swim through the pond and sprint for ten minutes before reaching the cozy house full of colorful people. Over the past couple weeks; Emery had learned a lot about their personalities. She was most intrigued by the twins, Fred and George, who she could tell apart as soon as they opened their mouths, though distinguishing by looks, was still near impossible.

Today was a plotting day for the twins. Emery was always amused by these, because the twins had creative and outrageous ideas that she lacked, but they were missing the technicality and logic that was necessary to pull them off. For instance, as soon as Ginny's hair hit water, it was back to its normal, vibrant red. If they would have tweaked the potion by just a little, it would have stayed in for at least a week, and every time she would have washed it, it would have gotten brighter.

Today they were creating a special prank for their little brother, Ron.

It wasn't going to work.

They were creating a fork that changed into a Popsicle stick whenever it came into contact with food, thus making eating quite the challenge. It was quite the idea, but they were going about it all wrong. They kept pouring strange combinations of liquids onto the fork, when there was a simple morphing spell that Emery had learned to turn her vegetables into extra desert. Unfortunately, her mother had caught her once, but the spell was useful for a multitude of purposes nonetheless.

It was common for Emery to make fun of the pair in her head, because she couldn't simply waltz up and correct everything they were doing wrong. _Why don't I just go up to them and say, "You boys are idiots, just put the chemicals down before someone gets-"_ When Fred poured an orange vial's contents on said fork, it exploded, turning his face a dust color and blowing his hair dramatically behind him.

Emery found herself beginning to do a silent laugh, trying desperately to hold it in, but shaking violently. However, the twins didn't notice because George was rolling on the floor in hysterical laughter while Fred was moodily kicking the stump where the fork once sat. At one point, he kicked too hard, causing him to swear profusely and hop around on one foot like and idiot.

Suddenly Emery let out a snort, and instantly clapped a hand over her mouth, silently cursing her least appealing feature. George whipped around immediately, spotting the slightest rustle of the bush. Emery was not a fan of the smirk that spread across George's face as he looked in her general direction. Fred stopped his rampant cussing momentarily, in time to give his brother a really bizarre look before he disappeared.

With a loud pop, George appeared right in front of Emery's hiding spot. She let out an extremely girly yelp of surprise. George started walking towards the noise with a smug, self-impressed grin. Emery panicked and began sprinting down the now familiar path towards her bedroom window. George started running after her, but when he realized how fast she was going, he gave up, panting. Fred watched all of this amusedly, before popping ten feet in front of the mystery stalker girl. She obviously wasn't paying attention when she ran smack dab into Fred, causing them both to topple to the ground, Emery on top.

He smirked, "Hi! I'm Fred!"


	2. Underestimating

Emery never expected to be in this position with a fairly good looking guy pinned underneath her, and when she went to respond to him, she found she could not remember her own name.

"I'm...uh...well-"

"EMERY ALLISON! WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!" Suddenly Emery's head shot in the direction of the high pitched voice which belonged to her unhappy mother.

Suddenly Emery was able to overcome her momentary paralysis and practically dove off Fred in a feeble attempt to make her mom think she had never been there. "Look mom, it's not what you think, I was just running and he jumped out in front of me..." she dropped her gaze to the floor knowing this was just a lost cause and prepared herself for the brutal punishment of not only leaving the house, but also being discovered on top of some boy she had never met before.

Emery and her mom began walking towards the house together, when Fred and George stepped in.

"Wait a second ma'am," George started.

"Yeah, it wasn't her fault, we were just kidding around," Fred continued.

"If you'd just come back to our house-"

"-I'm sure we could all sit down and get this figured out." Emery had to hand it to the guys; they had perfected the innocent act. However, considering Emery had quite the innocent face herself which her mother was quite immune to, she was blown away when her mother sighed defeated and followed the boys back to their home. She just stood there for a second, dumbstruck, before running ahead to catch up with them.

When they arrived at what she had been told was The Burrow, the twins led them in the door into a kitchen which held a red-headed woman dictating a lunch preparation. She turned around and looked quizzically between Emery and her mother, whose appearance looked much like an older version of her, until her eyes fell on her two sons, each avoiding eye contact. "Oh no, what have you two done to cause parents to come complaining again?"

They both looked up at her stern gaze before eyes darting back towards the ground, mumbling incoherent excuses.

Then Emery's mother stepped in, "Hi, I'm Sarah, we just moved in a couple weeks ago."

"I'm Molly, and what exactly brings you over here with my boys?" They started chatting like they had known each other for years.

Fred leaned in close to your ear, "It's best to run away before they remember exactly what you've done to upset them."

The three snuck away and ran up the stairs giggling before they stopped at a door and the twins spun around to face Emery while crossing their arms identically.

"So..." George began, "What exactly were you doing back there?"

"Were you, spying on us?" Fred asked with a raised eyebrow and a smirk.

"Well, you see I never meant to, but you guys were so clever with all your schemes," She saw their chests puff up at this, "But, you always went about it all wrong. I just couldn't help but watch you repeatedly fail." And with that, their expressions turned defensive, as her smirk widened to match their previous ones.

"Oh yeah, and what exactly would you know about pranking Emery?" Fred questioned.

She pushed past him into the empty room and said, "There's a lot about me you'll just have to learn." She walked over to a bed and plopped down, with a new confidence she did not have when first confronted with these boys.

Soon everyone Emery had seen in the backyard was in the twins' bedroom and they were all chatting happily about school starting. She was glad to have made some friends that she could be at home with, but with all the talk of school, she couldn't help but miss the girls from home and decided to write to them later.

There was a knock at the door about an hour later and Emery's mom poked her head in, "Come on sweetie, I think it's time to go home." She hopped up off the bed and headed for the door, but suddenly an arm shot out across the frame and she looked up at Fred.

"How about you come back tomorrow and we can see just how smart you actually are." He raised his eyebrows in question. She just smirked up at him, winked, ducked under his arm, and ran down the stairs and back home after her mom.

The next morning, Emery walked downstairs in her boy shorts and white tank top headed towards her kitchen for breakfast. She was definitely not a morning person, and as she was rubbing the sleep out of her eyes, she stopped dead in her tracks when Molly Weasley and her mother were laughing about something and drinking coffee.

Her mom turned around with a chipper smile, "Good morning sweetie, why don't you get ready, and then Molly tells me her boys have been asking for you all morning."

She wasn't sure where this new mom came from. Back home, Emery had been under strict rules and curfews all the time, especially regarding boys. However, she wasn't about to question the influence the beautiful English countryside, and possibly the laidback parenting style of Molly if it gave her more freedom in the world.

Emery grabbed a bagel and ran back upstairs to get herself ready for the day. Though she could perform wandless magic without being traced by wizarding officials, she most of the time opted to live like a normal person. Her cautious ways were possibly because she didn't want to push her luck of getting caught, but also she just liked the simplicity of life sometimes. Emery threw on some jeans and a tight turquoise tank that showed off the few curves she had quite nicely. Then she attempted to tame her unruly brown hair by throwing it into a messy bun on top of her head. She usually didn't bother with makeup because she didn't want to hide her freckles or waste any time with it. With a parting glance at the mirror, she ran out the front door of her house. Her dad was outside with a man who had quite obviously the Weasley red hair and they were taking a look at the lawnmower her dad, Collin had purchased.

"Bye daddy, see you later."

"See ya hun," he replied pulling her into a hug and giving her a quick kiss on her forehead. Unlike most fathers and daughters, Emery and her dad only got closer as she grew up and she would never get tired of being his little princess.

She then took off towards the Burrow eager to hang out with her new friends. However, as she slowed to a jog nearing the front of the house, it seemed eerily empty and the front door was open just a creak. She slowly walked up to the front door when she spotted a patch of orange hair in the flowerbed under the front window. Suddenly it made a lot of sense that she was about to walk into a huge setup. Emery decided it was time to show the Weasley twins just what she was capable of and fight back.

She smirked to herself and stepped through the door to the Burrow preparing for the worst. For about two seconds, nothing happened, and then all of a sudden all the kitchen equipment began throwing things at her. Water was soaking her head to foot from the sink, a bowl and whisk was beating pancake batter into her hair, and a sifter was covering her with a dusting of powdered sugar, among other things. It was like a high school food fight that was all directed at one target. Through the mess of food, she saw Fred at the bottom of the stairs smirking right at her with one eyebrow raised cockily.

Suddenly the pandemonium in the kitchen came to an end, and Fred began walking towards her in a slow and deliberate manner and got right up in her face. For a second her breathing began to get jagged and uneven and she was forgetting her need for revenge. That is, until he turned around facing back up the stairs and yelled, "Hey guys! It looks like breakfast is on Emery today!" That definitely snapped her out of her trance.

She jumped on him and tried to get him a little taste of his medicine by getting some of the mess on him as well. However, her petite frame was no match for Fred and he ran over to the couch and flipped her over his head and onto the plush cushions, "Now, Em...it's cute to think you can hang with us, but George and I have pranking down to an art, we've been doing this for quite some time now."

If there was one thing Emery couldn't stand, it was when someone underestimated her, "Oh really Fred, because it seems to me that you haven't even given me a fair chance yet."

Her tone was becoming bitterer and their faces were coming closer together while she started glaring.

"Well Emery I can't baby-sit you and tell you when it's your turn, pranking is all about timing."

Suddenly George chimed in, "Alright you two, enough already, give it up and let Emery go get clean." But it was too late, Fred had pushed her over the edge, and she decided to let him in on her little secret in the best way possible. Just when he held out his hand to help her up, she sent ten pies from the kitchen flying at him with her wandless abilities, never breaking eye contact with him or losing her confident smirk.


	3. The Shopping Spree

School was starting in four days, and at 8 in the morning, Emery's mother waltzed into her room and ripped the window blinds open, causing the morning sunlight to flood her room. "Get up sleepy head, Molly and I are taking you kids shopping today to get you all sorted out for school."

"And why do we feel the need to do this at this ungodly early hour?!" Okay, so maybe she was being a bit dramatic, but once she did arrive at Hogwarts, this was going to be her routine wakeup time and she wanted to relish sleep while she still could.

"Because, _dear_, the entire Weasley family is downstairs waiting for you, and if you aren't downstairs with us in five minutes, I'm sending George up here with am ice cold bucket of water, understand?"

Emery grunted, got out of bed and looked at her mother, "Happy?"

"Ecstatic." And with that, she left Emery alone. It was pretty obvious she was getting ready the quick way today. Since she assumed she would be meeting a great deal of students from Hogwarts while shopping, she decided to put a little more effort in her appearance in hopes of a successful first impression. Emery slipped into a cute brown halter summer dress and left her hair down in its natural wavy state.

Still only half awake, she slowly made her way downstairs and grabbed a cup of coffee from her dad, who knew her morning personality all too well. After inhaling deeply and taking one long sip, she smiled thankfully at him and turned around, noticing the 5 Weasleys standing cramped in her kitchen behind her mom.

Emery rolled her eyes and begrudgingly handed her dad her only half finished cup of coffee, "What's everyone staring at, let's shop."

"Well thank god we know she enjoys shopping, I was beginning to question her gender what with her amazing prank abilities and lack of time to get ready," Fred fakely whispered to his brother.

"Ha-ha, very funny guys, now if you don't mind, I'm awake I would rather it wasn't for nothing." The seven flooed to Diagon Alley, and as soon as Emery laid eyes on the crowded streets and cozy shops, she was immediately excited to get going.

"Alright, everyone meet back here in three hours," Molly instructed with a pointed look in the twins' direction. With that Ginny disappeared with a group of girls, Ron went off to meet a boy with black hair and beautiful green eyes standing next to a girl with a gorgeous face and bushy brown hair, and Emery's mother handed her a list with supplies on it and went off with Mrs. Weasley.

Though Emery was excited to get going she had run out rather quickly yesterday and felt a little awkward about losing control like that and didn't know how Fred had reacted.

Suddenly she was pulled out of her self-conscious thoughts by Fred and George each throwing an arm around her, "So we've talked it over…" Fred began.

"…and we've decided that not only are you the best thing that's ever happened to us…"

"…and that thing you did yesterday was the coolest thing we've ever seen…"

"…and it's quite obvious we'd rather have you pranking with us than against us…"

"…would you please accompany us, Emery Halloway, on this lovely day through Diagon Alley so we can get you properly equipped to start Hogwarts?" She looked side to side at each of their faces, completely innocent with blinking eyes, and burst out laughing.

"Why, I would be honored to good sirs," she replied after regaining composure. With that, they headed toward the book store. Emery immediately got excited upon seeing the high shelves.

"Uh oh Fred, we've got ourselves a book lover."

"Oh and here was me thinking she was my dream girl. Hmm pity, well here Em darling, you can find three sets of all the books for us too and we'll be across the street in the quidditch store when you're done." With that Fred had handed her two more lists of books and the two ran off before she could protest that she didn't know where anything was.

A half hour later, she only had one more book on the list but was trying to balance out 12 others, and apparently Diagon Alley had never heard of a shopping basket before. Just when she had spotted the final book for Potions two shelves above her head, a five year old boy came running through the aisle, bumping into her and sending all the books flying. "I'm going to kill those two for being so lazy!" Needless to say as Emery flung herself to the floor to gather up her books she was a tad upset and frustrated with her new friends.

Grace was never one of Emery's strong points and she scrambled to pick up all the large books. Finally, she stood up, with an angry expression and some seriously disheveled hair, and looked into icy blue eyes that put hers to shame. But the eyes were only the beginning, as she began to take in the hands-down most handsome boy she had ever seen, with platinum blonde hair, who obviously made plenty of time for working on his body.

"Now I know some people take school seriously, but this seems just ridiculous," he gestured toward her arm loads of duplicate texts.

"Well see, I'm transferring to Hogwarts from America, and my new _friends_ thought it would be a good idea to send me on the world's most impossible errand for them."

He smirked at her, "Well you obviously just haven't made the right friends yet, I'm Draco Malfoy," he stuck out his hand to shake hers with. Emery looked down at her arms to see that she had no empty hands, and just decided to drop her books again.

"Emery Halloway," she politely said while shaking his hand and smiling shyly just a little. _I really hope there are more of him at Hogwarts_ she thought to herself.

Just then she heard shouting from a few feet away obviously the twins looking for her, "Now Emery we get that you like books but 40 minutes is just redic- What are you doing with _him_?!"

"Well if it isn't Weasel-dee and Weasel-dumb, I was just kindly explaining to this lady how to make right friends in this world…apparently she hasn't had very good luck so far…" Suddenly Draco's voice took on a vicious tone and Emery mentally slapped herself, _okay so maybe I don't want more of him at school. Why is it that guys always ruin themselves by opening their mouths?_

The looks on all three guys' faces read nothing but trouble, so Emery decided to step in, "Look, it was very nice meeting you Draco, but you see I live by the Weasleys, so I must get going with them, I'll see you in a few days at school." With a flutter of her eyelashes to make sure he was satisfied enough to piss off, he winked at her, sent one last glare at Fred and George and pompously walked away.

"What were you doing?!" George asked all accusatory.

Emery's temper was beginning to get away with her again with all the falling books, annoying children, and male hormones. So instead of taking it out on them with a reply, she just flew the books hard at their chests with her mind and smirked at them when they gasped out in surprise and slightly out of a lack of air. But before she was done she had to add, "Oh, and since I've been doing all your grunt work today, have mine too," she smiled sweetly at them as three more landed on top of each of their stacks.

She was expecting some sort of an impact on them which made it hard to carry, but they just took it with ease and walked towards the register. "You know Emery, we are beaters on our house quidditch team…a few books aren't really anything compared to whacking a disgruntled bludger flying towards your head."

Emery wanted nothing more at that moment than to wipe that infuriating smirk right off Fred's face, but couldn't help but sneak a peak at the twins' toned upper body being shown off by the load. Unfortunately…they noticed, and while Fred's smirk just grew to about the size of Russia George felt the need to address the situation, "We get it, we're impeccably attractive, but having my new partner in crime check me out is just too weird for me," he finished with a playful wink.

"Oh brother, you're just nervous that she'll discover that your arms are puny in comparison to someone otherwise your equal. It's okay Emery, feel free to ogle as much as you see fit." And with that he began overdramatically shaking his hips the rest of the way to the counter and out of the store. Emery was beginning to wonder if she was incredibly lucky or insane to have become friends with these two.

Two hours later, Emery had finished buying everything on her list and even got an adorable kitten which she named Cookie. Unfortunately, he didn't take a liking to George and bit him whenever he was in range. Because of this George had taken to calling him Cookie Monster and didn't understand why Emery snickered under her breath every time he did so.

"Alright, only 20 minutes left and the most important stop left!" Fred declared with a giddy smile.

"And did you make a withdrawal from the Harry account this morning?" George asked matching his excitement, making Emery feel very much like she was missing out on something.

"Yes I did. Now Emery, we need you to trust us on this one and shut your eyes. We'll lead you from here, but we feel that the best way to experience this is all at once." She looked wearily up at Fred, but before she could give an answer, his hands were over her eyes and she was being lead from where Fred was behind her. Emery had never much been noticed by guys at her old school, her friends had a tendency to steal the attention, so she was a little uncomfortable with Fred so close behind her, but his hands did feel a little tingly. "Alright, are you ready for heaven?" She nodded enthusiastically and his hands dropped to reveal a store filled with more prank supplies than she could even imagine uses for.

"Welcome to Zonko's," George declared. They explained to her how their friend had won the Triwizard Tournament and left them money to open their own shop, but they first needed to fine tune the creations, and used the items here as raw materials. Plus every now and then they needed to pick up some dung bombs to drop on the caretaker, Filch.

"Yeah and he has this horrible cat that I'm sure would get along great with the Cookie Monster," George said bitterly, but Emery still chuckled a little bit every time.

Finally, it was time to go home and enjoy the last few days of summer before she would be off to Hogwarts, and Emery for the first time actually couldn't wait to get going to school.

**Author's Note:** Hey so I hope you enjoyed this chapter a lot, because I know i enjoyed writing it the most so far and it is a bit longer. So now I'm done posting the ones I already had written, so it will probably take me closer to 3ish days to post each update, but it would most certainly speed up the process if you would review and give me any feedback you have to make it a better read because the comments certainly make it easier to have motivation to keep it up. What would you like to see happen in the future??


	4. A Whole New Start

It was the morning Emery was off to Hogwarts, and she was extremely nervous, not to mention homesick. She decided that for a little support she would call her favorite girls from back home that still had another week of summer.

As soon as she heard the chipper hello from the other side of the world that was from her best friend ever, Alexis, Emery broke into the biggest smile she had worn since she arrived in England. "Oh my goodness EM! How have you been??? Why haven't you called?!"

"I'm sorry Lex, it's been so crazy here, and I'm off to school today, actually Fred and George will be here in like 10 minutes to gather us up to head over to their house."

Apparently the girls were together and Emery had been on speaker phone because this perked Carrie's attention, "Hold the phones! Fred and George?! You have two guys already?? You must have changed dear. Are they cute? Do they have cute accents?? SPILL!"

"Whoa, slow down Care-bear, they're just friends of mine, but yeah I guess they are kind of cute, and hate to break it to you, but all guys here have cute accents."

"Well leave it to you to get yourself stuck in the friend zone already," Carrie seemed slightly disappointed.

"Well," Emery responded with a giggle, "I did almost start a fight between the twins and this completely gorgeous blonde guy."

Leela decided to jump in, "Oh what about him??"

"He turned out to be a jerk, besides why are we talking about boys when I'm completely freaking out about school??"

"Oh Em dear you'll be just fine, you did great in the friend department at your last school, I hear they were a great catch," Alexis joked.

"Guys will you just promise me something?"

"Anything." Leela promised.

"You won't replace me will you?" Emery embarrassedly mumbled.

"NO!" All three screamed in unison.

"Are you crazy? We couldn't do that if we wanted. We're all missing you like crazy here. And we're nervous for school to start too; it's not going to even be the same experience at all." Alexis calmed her down; she always did know just what to say.

"Well, thanks guys, but I have to go, I can't bring my phone with me, but I promise I'll write to you."

A chorus of goodbyes and 'we love you' came from the other side of the conversation, and just as she hung up the phone and a single tear slid down her face, Emery's dad peeked his head into the room.

"Hey pumpkin, I know this is hard for you, but it's time to go, you'll be great. And look on the bright side; you already have friends to get you through this." She mustered up a smile to give him and then the Halloway family headed to the Weasely house and to King's Cross Station.

"Now Emery, you just run through the wall, and you'll be at the Hogwarts Express," Fred was coaxing her to try and get her to believe him.

"Whatever, nice try Fred. I'm not going to run myself into a wall just for your amusement. I may be a bit gullible sometimes, but I'm not stupid." Emery crossed her arms and raised one eyebrow at him, a talent she was actually quite proud of.

"Oh you two are ridiculous!" George shouted at them. He then grabbed his brother Ron and shoved him through the wall. Emery gasped and ran after him.

"Oh my goodness, Ron! Are you okay?! I can't believe your own brothers would just shove you through a wall like that." She rambled on until she felt a tap on her shoulder. "What?!"

"Um…Emery," Fred began, "You made it to the platform." She looked around to her amazement she saw a huge scarlet train with the words Hogwarts Express written on the front. When she turned to face the twins, they had matching smirks on their faces.

Emery was a bit disgruntled and crossed her arms, "Couldn't you have just walked through yourselves?"

George laughed at her, "Yeah but when do we ever do anything the easy way?"

"Plus," Fred continued, "You didn't see your face when we sent Ron through the barrier."

"KIDS!" Molly Weasely began, "The train leaves in two minutes! Get going!"

Emery searched frantically through the crowd of people for her parents and found them standing a few feet away talking to two tall beautiful blonde people and they had all her stuff with them. She headed over there and just as she arrived at the four, Draco showed up, which made since to her since he looked exactly like the man she assumed to be his father. "Ah this must be your daughter. Emery I've already heard about you from my son, and he's right, you are beautiful." At this, Emery blushed and Draco just winked at her.

"Well it was nice meeting you Mr. and Mrs. Malfoy, but I need to get going," Emery replied curtly and gave her parents a big hug, grabbed her kitten and noticed Draco had already grabbed her trunk for her. "You know, this isn't the 1800s Draco, I am perfectly capable of carrying my own luggage."

He leaned in close to her ear, "Just because you're a modern girl, doesn't mean I can't try and romance you a little." Emery was never used to getting this attention from a guy and couldn't help but get a little jittery and flattered by all the attention. Draco began to lead Emery to a compartment at the back of the train, until she saw Fred and George not too far ahead of them.

"Hey guys wait up!"

They turned around and Fred visibly exhaled, "Oh thank goodness you made it, we thought we lost- what is he doing?" Immediately his eyes darkened and Emery and George both shot him quizzical looks.

"I'm treating her with the care a lady deserves, something a Weasely like you obviously wouldn't know the first thing about." Emery shot him a dirty look.

"Thanks for all your help Draco, but I think I can take it from here."

"Why don't you sit with me and my friends for awhile since these two have got a whole extra week to spend with you," he replied with a well practiced innocent smile.

"Um how about I'll sit with them, and since you're trying to romance me you'll listen to my request without protest and just for fun, you can add one of your dazzling smiles." She replied and as he smirked and handed her the trunk from his hand, she turned around towards the twins whose faces were both horror-stricken and made a gagging sign.

They both started giggling, while Draco passed her rather closely because of the narrow hallway and whispered, "I'm sure I'll see you around at school, and don't forget to tell that hat you want Slytherin." Emery turned back toward the twins with a horrified look on her face.

"Emery, what's wrong?" George asked.

"He just pinched my butt!"

"He WHAT?!" Fred began scrambling down the hall after him, but George took hold of his flailing body before he could wiggle away and Emery burst out laughing. "What is so funny about that?" Fred demanded.

"I was just kidding. That was just to get back at you for the wall thing. But I gotta say, I think your reaction so beat mine." She sashayed triumphantly into the compartment the twins had come out of to see three heads turn quizzically in her direction. "Hi! I'm Emery, and I just moved here from America."

"Bloody hell, well thank you America for sparing this beautiful sight," the only boy of the three extended his arm to shake Emery's hand, "I'm Lee Jordan. And these two lovely ladies are Angelina Johnson and Alicia Spinnet. Basically you're sitting in the 7th year Gryffindor quidditch compartment."

"Well hopefully I'll be a help to you all cheering from the sidelines as a fan." Fred and George soon joined the four of them in the compartment and they chattered the rest of the way to school. Finally, the train came to a stop and all the students shuffled off the train. As soon as Emery saw the castle, lit up in the moonlight, her breath caught in her throat and all she could manage was an astounded, "wow."

Fred leaned in close behind her and wrapped his arm protectively around her waist, but Emery was too stunned to notice, "If you're impressed by this my dear, you have quite the year in store for you." With that, they dragged her into a carriage with them before any of the teachers could whisk her away to take the boats with all the first years. And as Emery was bumping along the road to her new school, she couldn't help but feel a great deal of butterflies about which house was in her future.


	5. Magic of a New Sort

"Okay so let's go over this one more time…I want Gryffindor because…"

"Well Ravenclaw in full of dweebs who do nothing but study," George began.

"And Hufflepuff is called…Hufflepuff, enough said." Lee Jordan added.

"And Slytherin is full of conceited; know it alls whose king is Malfoy. So really the only logical choice is for you to join us in the prime house of Gryffindor, home of the brave, just like that country you came from. And of course we need you there to help us wreak havoc upon the school," Fred concluded.

They hopped off the carriage and the gigantic school somehow just became extremely intimidating. Alicia walked up next to Emery, "Don't let them freak you out. Every house is great, you'll make friends. It's just ours has the best quidditch team." She winked and walked away.

Emery took a deep breath and walked up the steps following just behind her friends who seemed to have forgotten about her in all the excitement. Suddenly an older witch came from down the hall, "Emery Halloway! Is that you dear?" When she curtly nodded, the woman exhaled in relief, "Oh thank goodness, you come over here with me, and you and Mr. Connolly will be sorted after all the first years."

She went over and stood next to the only other person over five feet tall. She smiled warmly at him when she realized he was totally handsome, light brown hair, dark brown eyes, and freckles dusting his face. He extended his hand, "Tanner Connolly. I'm going to be a 7th year, hoping for Ravenclaw from what I've heard, and you?"

She took his hand and shook it gingerly, "Emery Halloway, 7th year as well, and I don't know what house I'm hoping for. Are you Irish? Your accent is gorgeous." Emery instantly clapped her hand over her mouth. She definitely did not mean to say that out loud, but Tanner just laughed.

"Yes, I'm Irish, and I'm guessing you're American. What brings you here?"

"Well my parents moved here for work. Are you nervous?"

Tanner chuckled again, and Emery could most certainly get used to the sound of his laugh. "Well I was, but I've met a friendly, and not to mention good looking girl within five minutes of being in this castle, so maybe it just has some magic in store for me," he winked at her and for a moment she melted inside until they turned and realized the first years were halfway into the Great Hall. The two quickly ran in and caught up with the rest of the group. It wasn't until the third student had been sorted that Emery looked around. The room was absolutely beautiful and as she stared at the ceiling, her mouth fell open and she was mesmerized. After about ten seconds Tanner poked her in the side simply trying to get her attention. However, Emery, being extremely ticklish squealed loudly right as the next first year was walking to the hat and the entire Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff house tables turned to stare at her. She could not believe she already had this much negative attention and looked at Tanner with huge eyes. She could not think of anything else to do so she flicked him in the center of his forehead. He just started laughing at her pitiful attempt at revenge, trying to keep his sound down, and shaking in the process. She wasn't really paying attention to the sorting as she was subtly flirting with this Irish eye candy.

"Tanner Connolly," Professor McGonagall announced. Suddenly Emery got a swarm of butterflies in her stomach knowing it was her turn next.

The hat was on Tanner's head for about 4 seconds, before it yelled out, "RAVENCLAW!" A majority of the girls at that table started giggling with each other wondering who this new boy may be, and if he was available. He was beaming as well and looked towards Emery, mouthing, _good luck_, while he took his seat next to a group of older guys.

Emery made her way up to the hat and it was placed on her head.

"Well," it said, "you might as well tell me your request now. It seems there is more and more recruiting every year and now everyone knows where they want to be. It takes all the fun away from me when I have to disappoint those poor 11 year olds."

"Oh no, it's in your hands…not that you have hands. You are, after all, a hat."

"Are you sure?"

"Isn't it your job to tell me where I belong? How should I know? I just got here."

"Well aren't you a refreshing surprise. Well then, let's see here. American, a little shy, very advanced in school, a lot of drive, and quite a secret talent that gives you more potential than you realize right now. You have greatness destined for you, and I think I know where that puts you…"

**Fred's POV:**

All the first years came filing into the great hall, with looks of wonder and amazement on their faces, but Emery wasn't with them. Suddenly she came running in with some boy, both giggling about their situation. A look of jealousy flashed across Fred's face, and his twin brother took quite a notice of this.

Fred couldn't help but notice how adorable Emery looked when she was captivated by the ceiling. Then he shook himself. Where was all this coming from? Jealousy? Adorable? This was not Fred Weasley, the accomplished prankster and jokester. He would not let some stupid crush get in the way of his new friendship and partnership.

But the anger came back as they were poking each other back and forth. Finally it stopped as the unknown threat was placed in Ravenclaw, hopefully to be separated from Emery.

She sat down and the hat was placed on her head. Fred did not realize he was holding his breath, until his brother hit him lightly on the back. She was taking a long time with that thing; it was pretty obvious Emery would have no trouble making friends here.

Finally the hat had come to a decision and yelled out, "GRYFFINDOR!" The whole table erupted in cheers, especially on the older end. It was always nice to get a fresh face after 6 years with the same people. Fred was so happy to see Emery's face light up with excitement as she bounded over towards them.

**Emery's POV:**

She was relieved to have gotten the house she did, and she plopped herself down right in between Fred and George. Right as a table full of food appeared in front of her she threw her arms around the shoulders of the twins and said, "Well boys, you ready to wreak some havoc?"

George replied, "You have no idea." The all started laughing as Angelina, Alicia, and Lee looked at them with a slight bit of apprehension. Emery was having so much fun; she didn't notice the eyes boring into the back of her head coming from the Ravenclaw table.

The whole way back to the common room, Fred and George were explaining all the things they had done in the past that could easily be repeated. "Stink bombs in Filch's office," George began, "are always a good warm up for the year."

"Live suits of armor bewitched to attack with water guns!" Fred shouted enthusiastically.

"Brother, I believe we can have Emery as the brains behind some of our prototypes for our business." George's eyes lit up at this realization.

"Boys!" Emery exclaimed. "How about I just get settled and focus on school for one night, I'm a little overwhelmed, and a lot freaking out."

"Oh come on Em," Fred started, "You can do magic without a wand how hard can simple spells be?!" Emery threw Fred into the wall and covered his mouth with her hand. Luckily the other three were up ahead and no one else around as they had taken a shortcut the twins suggested.

"How about you broadcast it to the world you dimwit!" With that she rushed ahead with Angelina and Alicia as they headed up to their room.

"Good going bro, way to romance a lady." George taunted his brother.

"Who said I was trying to romance her?" George just raised an eyebrow but didn't say anything to contradict his clearly in denial brother. "And besides I hardly call someone who uses the insult dimwit a lady." He started chuckling about how American she was and George just rolled his eyes.

Up in the girls dormitory, they showed Emery where a new bed had been added, and Alicia said she was off to put some things in the bathroom. As soon as the door closed behind her, Angelina turned toward Ermey, "Let's just get this straight right now, Fred and I went to the Yule Ball together last year and we were going somewhere towards relationship city. If you screw that up for me, or make a move on him, I will make sure you have no friends here. Got it?"

Emery was quite taken aback, "Look, I'm not interested in Fred that way, we're just friends. He's all yours, but thanks for the warning," Emery said sarcastically.

They stood in awkward silence for a few moments until Alicia came back and Angelina was all smiles again; chatting as if nothing had happened.

Emery decided to go to sleep early so she could be well-rested in the morning for classes to start. Just before she fell asleep she found herself thinking about what Angelina had said. She didn't have a problem with Fred being off limits, she just hoped that when they were spending time together she wouldn't have to worry about being harmed in her sleep. _I wonder if Fred knows he's off limits. Perhaps I could push this a little just for fun. It would make Carrie proud…_ she mused and then fell into a peaceful sleep.


	6. First Day of Classezzzzzz

_Emery was walking through the cafeteria of St. Claire's with her usual 8 am unhappy mood. She spotted her best friends in the corner eating breakfast at their usual table, chatting and happy. "Did none of you think maybe you should wake me up so I didn't oversleep for my first day of school?" she asked irritated as she sat down. But they all carried on talking as if she was invisible._

"_Have you guys seen Caleb? The summer sun definitely did him a lot of good." Carrie said with a dazed look on her face._

_Alexis sighed, "Can't you keep it in your pants for one day?"_

"_I'm sorry but not all of us are destined to be great Healers, Lex, so I have to find myself a provider during my last year of academia."_

_Leela let out a huge chuckle, "Really? Your aspiration for your last year is husband hunting? Seriously hun, you can do better than that." They laughed together and joked about what a fantastic year they were going to have. Emery was so confused. Her usual cup of coffee was set at the empty place setting, and it was perfectly normal for her to be the last one downstairs, but it was like no one even cared she was there. She reached for the coffee and her hand went right through the cup. Suddenly, a short girl who Emery recognized as a 6__th__ year named Mikaela sat right down right on top of Emery._

_Alexis threw her arm around Mikaela's shoulder, "I'm so glad you moved into our dorms! It's great to have that bed filled now that Emery is finally gone." Emery's jaw dropped and her eyes began to tear up. Her best friends in the whole world didn't even mis- __**BEEP BEEP**_

Emery shot up in bed. "Oh thank god it was just a dream!" She exclaimed before slapping a hand over her mouth. Alicia rolled over in the bed next to her, groaning about the time. Emery couldn't believe she was the first one in the room awake, and the fact that she wasn't tired at all could only be due to the fact that she had about a million butterflies in her stomach.

She went into the bathroom, showered and left her hair down. She put on a little bit of makeup, brushed her teeth, and finally got her uniform on. When she was satisfied with the way she looked, the rest of the girls were awake and in the bathroom, so she decided to head down to the Great Hall for some coffee.

Emery took one step into the common room when all of a sudden she had a Weasley twin on either side of her, their arms around her shoulders. "So you ready for the beginning of the best year of your life?" George happily asked.

"Ready as I'll ever be I guess. You guys aren't always this enthusiastic in the morning are you?"

"Of course we are. Morning is the time when everyone is caught off guard, still half asleep and thinking we're innocent or something." Fred replied, "But don't worry, we'll have you trained to be like us in no time."

"Yeah! People will think we've grown a triplet over the summer!" George added laughing.

Emery just groaned and followed them into the great hall. She still couldn't get over the immaculate decoration in this room, and the large amounts of food always on the table. This kind of luxury was not something that she had at St. Claire's. She sat down, spread some jam on a piece of toast and took a huge bite. At that moment there was a tap on her shoulder, and a voice whispered in her ear, "Good morning, I missed you last night."

She turned around and at the sight of Tanner, a huge smile spread over her face, before she remembered the food in her mouth and quickly swallowed. _Very ladylike Emery, sure gonna impress the guy this way. _But he was a total gentleman and pretended not to notice, "Listen, I was talking to some of the guys, and we figured out that Gryffindor and Ravenclaw have History of Magic together first thing this morning. And I figured since I'm a smart guy and we had so much fun last night, we could maybe sit by each other and be study partners for that class?"

Emery felt a blush rise to her cheeks immediately, "Yeah that sounds great! How about you walk me to class? I'll come find you when I'm done eating?"

He shot her a swoon-worthy smile, "Perfect! See you in a bit!" Before he turned to leave, he caught a glimpse of Fred and George on the other side of table imitating Emery gushing and shot them an irritated look.

When she turned around, Fred has his eyebrows raised, "Really Em? That guy?"

"What's your problem with him?"

"He's so fake! He just wants to snog you, you'll see."

"And so what if he does?" she questioned, pretty irritated herself, "It's not like you're my mother."

Fred stammered, not knowing what he could say. "I think what my brother is getting at," George interjected, "is that we need you focused on helping us with school and pranks. He just doesn't want you spreading yourself too thin being that you're the new girl and all."

"Well I'm a big girl. I'll be fine managing my own time," she snapped. Then she stood up and turned around, but she felt a little guilty so she softened her tone saying, "I appreciate your concern, but I'm not gonna get too busy for you guys, don't worry," and with a smile she walked over to Tanner, and George elbowed Fred hard in the side, shooting him a look that said "don't be a jerk." Too bad he had already put a sleeping potion in her coffee, she was not gonna be happy with him.

"This is Rodger Davies, captain of the quidditch team. Devon Chambers and Chase Bradley are the other two chasers. They've sort of recruited me to try out to be a beater after they found out I was captain at my old school. Guys, this is Emery Halloway."

They all nodded cordially and Tanner and Emery fell behind a little bit. "So you don't seem to be having a hard time making friends," Emery noted elbowing him lightly in the side.

"Same with you. Pretty chummy with those redheaded twins?"

"Yeah, well Fred and George were neighbors of mine this summer, so I got to know them ahead of time. I don't know that I'm going to be very popular with the girls in my room though. I think I already have an enemy."

"Oh really? I can't imagine someone not liking you immediately," he looked down at her with one of his bright smiles. He was at least 6 inches taller than her, and had the most adorable dimples. Needless to say, her butterflies were flapping like crazy.

"Well, just this one girl, Angelina. She has marked her territory in Fred, and somehow thinks I'm a threat. Which is silly."

She didn't notice Tanner's eyes darken for the slightest moment before he regained composure, "Well maybe you'll think of something to do to make that jealousy of hers go away," Emery could swear she saw him wink at her as they walked inside the classroom. They chose a pair of seats near the back of the classroom, the other Ravenclaw quidditch players sitting next to them. George plopped down right in front of Emery, Alicia taking the seat next to him, and Fred and Angelina ended up right behind them.

Professor Binns was a ghost. And an incredibly boring one at that. Normally, Emery didn't have any problems listening to lectures, but after just five minutes, she was yawning uncontrollably and her eyelids were incredibly heavy. How could she be so unlucky to have this class first thing in the morning? She was about to lay her head down when Tanner pushed a note right in front of her, _You look so cute when you're tired._ There was that blush again, and she wrote back quickly, _Oh whatever. _

_Whatever? You are such an American :)_

_Well…obviously. I thought you would have picked up on that before now, being that you're so smart :)_

_Are you mocking me?_

_Maybe…_

_Now my feelings are extremely hurt. :(_

_I'll just have to find some way to make it up to you…_

"Excuse me…Ms. Halloway…can you tell me what I was just talking about?"

"Oh sorry! I got distracted! It won't happen again, I promise." She shot Tanner a playful glare and he just smiled and dropped his gaze away from Professor Binns, into his lap. Well now she had to stop passing notes, and she was getting so tired again.

Binns was carrying on about what they would cover this year, "And after the Goblin war we will be discussi-"

Emery opened her eyes, groggily looking around the room. Fred was sitting on the table in front of a plush couch in the Gryffindor common room. "Where the hell am I? What happened to me? The last thing I remember is – oh God! I was in History of Magic! I have to get to my next class! Why are you just staring at me?"

"Look, Em, calm down I'll explain everything," Fred wouldn't make eye contact with her, "And don't worry about class…it's almost dinner time."

Her eyes narrowed at him, "Start explaining. Now."

"Well, you see, I was just trying to play a little harmless joke on you. I may have slipped a tiny sleeping potion in your coffee this morning."

"You…WHAT?"

"I know! I'm so sorry, and you're the smart one which is why we need you to keep this kind of thing from happening! I made it too strong, and you ended up passing out in History of Magic…actually snored and drooled a little, Tanner was very impressed though. Still thought you were cute I'm sure. Anyways, I carried you back and I've been sitting with you all day waiting for you to wake up, and George talked to all the professors, and no one is mad at you and you can make it all up I swear!"

She was absolutely seething, but she knew she couldn't let herself lose control or something bad with her powers would happen, and there were too many people around. So she took a few deep breaths, and responded, "Look, Fred, I know you love to prank. But you do not want to start this war with me. I'll let it go this one time, but come on, cool it. I was worried enough about classes, and now I'm already behind." The look on his face broke her hard exterior a little and she smirked at him, lifting his chin up to look at her, "Did you at least get in a lot of trouble?"

"Detention with Binns for 2 weeks."

She smiled, thinking how awful it would be to spend that much time with him, "Good. Then we'll call it even for now. C'mon, let's go get some dinner, I'm starving." _This is gonna be an interesting year…_


End file.
